Do Me A Favour
by tidalutopia
Summary: Modern Day AU where Charles' curiosity becomes such a heavy load, too heavy to hold.
1. Chapter 1

{_Curiousity becomes a heavy load,  
Too heavy to hold, too heavy to hold…_}

Life has been good for Elsie Carson. Married the man of her dreams, been with him for nearly 25 years, had the most wonderful daughter who was in studying abroad and had kept a job that made her so happy all these years. She had always dreamed of a life like this, and she had achieved, and now she could only hope to live more so she could stay in this life for a little longer.

Charles Carson, her husband, was a kind and loving man. They met in their workplace, which was an hotel, one of the most important and crowded in London – the Downton Hotel. They fell in love instantly. She was everything he wanted on a girl, he was everything she wanted on a boy. It was perfect, and it remained perfect after all these years. He'd bring her flowers occasionally, make her dinner, take her out for a drink every once in a while. He didn't mind when she shopped too much, or when she forgot to do the dishes. She didn't mind when he drank a little too much, or when he left his underwear on the bathroom floor. They were in perfect sync.

But as soon as Ivy, their daughter of no 18, left for Manchester's Law School, it felt like something was missing. At first, it was only the stress from the work, as it was the Christmas season in the Hotel and they both knew they'd have little time for each other, but then… The talks began simple exchanges of simple words; the brushing of lips became fewer, and most of the time when Elsie begged for them were the times where Charles would… bring himself to. Something was missing, something was wrong.

Elsie loved him so much, and she was sure she hadn't done anything out of the ordinary. She was home because she took two days off work to get on some Christmas shopping, and on one Monday morning she began to suspect something.

"Charles…" She spoke softly, while in her nightgown, as she approached him in the kitchen. "…Is everything okay?"

Charles looked at her, cup of strong coffee in his hand and a relaxed look on his face. He was already dressed up for work. "Shouldn't it be?" He drank from his cup, calmly placing it in the counter afterwards.

Elsie sighed, crossing her arms. "You seem like… you're not you."

"Honey, I've been following the bosses like crazy these past days. You know how it is." He picked up his jacket from the chair next to him and dressed it. "You're lucky this year it's your turn to have the free days on this season. It's mad out there."

"Charles…" She approached him, grabbing his arm.

"Darling, you'll meet with Beryl today, won't you? Do me a favor and ask her to reply to my bloody email, because Robert really wants the reply by the end of this afternoon." He released himself from her, action Elsie thought to be of the coldest of ices. "I'll see you tonight," he grabbed the keys of his car and his bag, and started heading to the door.

"Won't you kiss me goodbye…?" She asked, completely worried something else was wrong. She couldn't understand his actions and she worried for the worse.

Charles turned to her. "I'm late, Elsie."

"Please. You never seem to kiss me like you used to in the past."

Charles shrugged, defeated, approaching her, leaving her a dry, unpleasing kiss on her lips.

…

Elsie had taken a shower and her breakfast before getting on some clothes to head out to Starbucks to meet with Beryl Patmore, an old but very close friend of hers. She wanted to pick some heels, get some nice make up on, so she wouldn't look like she was going to the hotel, but she couldn't bring herself to do it because Charles barely even looked at her that morning.

London was very cold in December, as always. The bus was crowded with tourists and Elsie almost forgot to exit where she was supposed to, her mind clouded with the search for reasons for him to behave like that. Holding on to her bag and to her scarf, she walked to where Beryl would be waiting her that said morning.

Beryl Patmore was the cook of one of the most famous restaurants in the area, and she had worked in the hotel with Elsie in the past, but left for an opportunity that had appeared for her. Since then, the restaurant where she worked became the main spot for old co-workers like Elsie and Charles as well her old bosses, the Crawleys, to have dinner, since they could always get tables.

"Good morning, Elsie…!" Beryl greeted joyfully, her fringe covering her forehead, that fiery hair she always had and loved. But the smile and the joyfulness vanished as she saw properly Elsie's face. "…looks like someone got out of the house in a hurry."

"I'm sorry, Beryl… and good morning." Elsie kissed her friend in the cheeks and sat beside her, taking the gloves out of her hands. "I really didn't felt like getting pretty for you, I'm afraid."

"Something the matter?" the redheaded asked.

If there was someone who knew their marriage well, Beryl was the person. Alongside Isobel Crawley, she was the bridesmaid, and the godmother of Ivy. Elsie began to explain what was happening, what she was feeling and how distant Charles seemed to be those past days. Beryl was getting worried for her friend.

"…That doesn't sound like him. Two months ago he bought you flowers and you two went to Wales and everything, and you've told me it was so good!"

Elsie nodded. "That's what I don't understand. When the subject is our daughter, he's all ears, but when there's something else, he just… doesn't listen. And it has been more frequent these past days…"

"I don't want to sound nosy, darling…" Beryl leaned forward a bit. "but what about the… you know."

"We haven't done anything in more than a month." Elsie sighed heavily. "I know we don't really have the time but we always found time for… those pleasures."

The redheaded woman crossed her arms "…Give him time, surprise him, I don't know. You never had this problem before, and I'm not really familiar with this kind of things."

Elsie looked at her own hands laying on her lap, mainly to her wedding ring. It wasn't shining as it did when she first wore it, but… it seemed heavier now.

…

Charles arrived home, Elsie could hear it from their bedroom. He got in there and smiled, but not a familiar smile, not the one she loved. "How was work?" Elsie asked, hoping to at least talk to him.

"Busy." He said, taking of his tie, then his shirt, then his trousers. Elsie looked at him carefully. "I'll take a shower."

"Go on." She replied dryly as well.

As he got inside the bathroom, Elsie got up. She had chosen something at least she thought he'd find appealing to him, and she sat on his side of the bed, crossing her legs. Looking at the mirror, she arranged her hair, and tried to smile. If he wasn't willing to have sex with her, at least she'd have to try to change his mind… Until a certain strong scent floated in the air, coming from his shirt.

She picked it up, and inhaled the scent coming from the fabric. Her hands started shaking, that scent… That scent was womanly, from someone's else perfume, from a woman. He was cheating on her… She didn't want to believe it. What had she done wrong? That perfume wasn't hers, she didn't even like strong perfumes. And it wasn't his, as well, as she knew perfectly every perfume he had because she had gotten him them all. She placed the shirt back on the bed, beside her, holding her tears, a lump growing on her throat.

And he got out of the shower, only with a towel on.

"…Elsie, honey?" Charles looked astonished. She looked to good, but her body was shaking. He noticed the shirt beside her… and he swallowed hard. She had noticed it.

"…" Elsie rose her head, swallowing hard as well. "Who is she?" She mumbled.

Charles approached her, his spine shivering in fear and regret. "…There's an explanation."

"I will ask again… Who is-"

"Elsie, please."

"…SHE?!"

She started crying. Angry, she rose back to her feet, thrown the white, regret-stinking shirt to his face and ran out of the room, locking herself in Ivy's old room. Charles followed her, asked for her to leave the room so they could talk. But she cried herself to sleep in her daughter's bed, holding on to one picture of them three when Ivy was younger.

Charles had cheated on her. And he didn't realize this curiosity for another woman's affection would be too heavy to hold.


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry for the delay – it's the end of the semester and time has been little to write, but I'll try at least to post one chapter per week. Arctic Monkeys sure gives me a lot of inspiration.**

**-/- **

{_It's these times that it tends,  
The start to breaking up, to start to fall apart  
Oh! Hold on to your heart…_}

The day had dawned and Elsie was desperately crying in her bed, and it started as soon as she woke up. She couldn't remember if she had dreamed about anything else rather than how disgusted she was to the thought of the only man she truly loved laying on a bed beside another woman rather than herself.

And they were so happy, they had built such a strong relationship over the years, only for this to happen. Had she gotten ugly? Had she gotten boring? Had he never loved her, and some other woman, possibly younger, had the grit to sweep Charles from his feet? The more she cried, the more she knew she had to leave that room, her daughter's room, get in a car and go somewhere to clear her mind, if that was possible.

On the other hand, Charles didn't sleep, and he left as soon as the sun rose in the sky. He took a shower, and felt like the worst man in existence – and he should. He had cheated on a woman that he loved so much even after all those years. Some tears rolled down his eyes, but he had to go to work, he had to face the woman he slept with and finish the business he had with her.

Charles was rather drunk that night. It was one of the parties thrown by the staff at the hotel and Elsie wasn't present because she was in Manchester dealing with Ivy and her scholar affairs. This woman was younger than him, but not much younger, and her hair shined like the setting sun. He remembered a black dress, he remembered it clearly – and he also remembered her lips on his, as he was walking her to her room. Her hands, her legs around him, as the alcohol spoke for him and not his heart or his senses. The sex wasn't all that amazing, he couldn't remember, but it was the first time he had been with another woman rather than Elsie.

It had happened a few more times, like a torrid affair that one reads in the books. Sometimes in his office, sometimes on her car. He was going through this change of fate that he couldn't simply understand – Elsie was still very beautiful and very attractive to his eyes, but why would he feel this attraction to a woman that he only had talked a few times? The curiosity became a heavy load, and it would cost him his nearly perfect marriage with Elsie. They had a daughter, a flat, two cars, many albums of pictures of their travels, books they shared, memories the same, and a love that no one could deny.

As he sat on his desk, drink in his hand, the other hand covering his mouth, his eyes somewhere else, looking at nothing, until a knock on the door startled him, drink almost falling on the ground.

"Yes?" He said, clearing his throat, getting up from his chair.

"It's me." A feminine voice spoke. Charles sighed.

It was her.

…

"Are you sure he cheated on you?"

Elsie felt Isobel's hand on her arm as the Crawley woman asked her this. She had called Isobel as soon as she knew Isobel would be free, and even brought herself to make tea for them. Beryl was busy, and she didn't trust many other people. Isobel was a very dear and close friend, and she had gone through this kind of feeling, this kind of abysm.

"…The scent wasn't mine, nor the golden hairs on his coat." Elsie's voice was so vague, like it had no feeling. "And the worst is that I cannot begin to understand why he did it…"

Isobel straightened her back. "This isn't the Charles Carson I know, and that I'm sure…"

"Nor the one I married."

"Elsie, are you sure he did it…?"

She leaned forward to get a cigarette from her pack, as well as the lighter. "He didn't state otherwise."

Isobel knew Elsie hadn't smoked in years. It was her who helped the other to stop, mostly because of her pregnancy. Else wasn't a heavy smoker back then, but as the retired nurse took a look at the pack of sin, she noticed it was almost empty. Isobel sighed as Elsie lightened the cigarette, but in that moment she didn't care about a puff of smoke, but in her friend's sanity.

"I know what you're thinking, that I'm giving in to this again." Elsie raised the cigarette to her lips again. "But I really had to, it's the only thing that calms me down."

"I don't care about it." Isobel stated, grabbing her cup of tea. "What's important now is to know what you're going to do with what happened. Does Ivy know?"

"Are you insane? She won't know a thing until I know exactly who he cheated me with." Elsie felt a lump on her throat. "But… That's what troubles me the most. Ivy. She's not even twenty, and she hasn't even had a boyfriend, or even lived fully enough to deal with this kind of things. I don't want her to go through this…"

"She'll have to know, eventually… If you're to get a divorce."

Elsie looked at Isobel with the saddest eyes Isobel had ever seen. "Isobel…"

"I know. It's hard to listen to. But… What if he doesn't want anything more with you?"

"…"

Elsie broke down on tears, and Isobel brought the almost weightless body of her friend next to her, letting her head lay down on her shoulder.

…

"Come on in."

Charles sat back on his chair. The woman entered, and smirked at him, moving around his desk, sitting on a empty spot of the same object of furniture, crossing her unveiled legs, smoothing her black, elegant skirt that only covered her thighs to the knees.

"Rosamund, no." Charles forced himself to look in front and not to his lover, drinking from his cup. "Elsie found out."

Rosamund crossed her arms. "I don't care about her. And you didn't seem to as well… if I remember correctly…"

Charles looked at her with anger, and got up from his chair nervously. He faced the other woman who was smirking with his angry eyes, controlling himself to not do something shameful… but nothing would be more shameful than what he had already done to his wife.

"I will not fuck you anymore, I will not have anything more with you. Get out of my office." He said, ready to let the bomb inside him explode. "Get out!"

Rosamund laughed. "Oh, but that's where you're wrong. You're mine now, Charles… And no man decides whenever I stop playing with him…"

"Get. Out…!"

She grabbed his shirt and brought him closer, noticing he was getting actually very upset. "I'll put this straight for you, Carson. You'll have dinner with me tomorrow, at Beryl Patmore's restaurant, and then you'll drive me to this hotel and make love to me again."

Charles closed his fists, trying to get out of her clutch. "I won't do that."

"Oh, you'll do it. If you don't, I'll tell Robert you've sexually assaulted me, and your job is gone, and so is the money to pay for your daughter's studies. I couldn't care less about Elsie job here."

"You couldn't do that…"

"Oh, but I can. He's my brother, and he's your boss. I always have the better hand. Tomorrow, at 7 pm sharp, at the entrance. Bring your better suit and wear your best cologne, or no cologne at all, so I can chose one that greets your old wife."

Rosamund released him, got back on her feet, and walked of the office.

What she didn't know was that John Bates was listening to the whole thing, and as he walked of the corridor as if he didn't know about a thing, he couldn't believe Rosamund Painswick would do this kind of thing, this kind of cruelty. He had always respected Charles Carson, and even though he didn't like the idea of him having cheated on his wife, this couldn't go unnoticed… and Charles Carson wouldn't lose his job.

He fought the idea of calling Elsie, but instead, he went back to his office, and called for Anna. Anna was Elsie's right hand in the hotel, and she'd know what to do.

But as Rosamund walked away, Charles grabbed another bottle of whiskey and filled his glass, only to drink it all in one go. She was between the sword and the wall, and nothing he could do was going to help the current situation with Elsie… Should he tell Elsie? She wouldn't listen to him…

…And he couldn't tell anyone more.


End file.
